Pretty much saying that F-35's current E/Cyber-Warfare is very advanced and blk4 will put it in a whole different realm. Not only that but US military as a whole EW capability is very advanced and pretty much unstoppable.
They've been ahead of the game for a while...
In an interview with
The War Zone in 2022, Col. Josh Koslov, commander of the Air Force's 350th Spectrum Warfare Wing, had the following to say about cognitive electronic warfare:
"Cognitive EW is definitely something that is a real thing. The Air Force has been doing it for a while. It's not new, it's just becoming more broadly well-known."
...
"There is a potential for a buzzword aspect to that phrase. I don't want to have lexicon battles, but what I do need is a mindset that I can develop technology that says it looks like a duck, it smells like a duck, it's in bad-guy land, so I'm going to use this effect against it in order to be as quick as possible because all future fights are about speed. That's what I have to be able to do. If we're going to call that cognitive, that's fine. If we're going to call that algorithmic, that's fine. But at the end of the day, what I need to do is be rapid."
The Air Force stood up the 350th Spectrum Warfare Wing in 2021 to be a focal point for the service when it comes to all things in the electromagnetic spectrum, including electronic and cyber warfare. The Wing's 350th Spectrum Warfare Group is specifically responsible for providing reprogramming support for various electronic warfare systems, including ones belonging to U.S. allies and partners.
Chicoms had a small taste of US EW capability.
How Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan set off a new wave of US-China electronic warfare
Chinese and the US forces were locked in a reconnaissance and electronic warfare tussle in the lead-up to and after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's trip to Taiwan, according to military sources and defence analysts.
But not all of it was successful, according to sources close to the Chinese military.
State broadcaster CCTV reported the Chinese military used naval and air forces in multiple locations to conduct "full tracking and surveillance" against the US Air Force transport aircraft flying Pelosi and her delegation from Kuala Lumpur to Taipei on August 2.
The tracking was aimed at "deterrence", the report quoted PLA Major General Meng Xiangqing, from the PLA National Defence University, as saying.
However a source said the People's Liberation Army's tracking efforts - which involved jets and Type 055 destroyers - failed.
"The PLA deployed some electronic warfare aircraft such as the J-16D and warships to try to locate Pelosi's aircraft, but were not successful," the source said.
"Almost all the PLA electronic warfare equipment couldn't work properly because they were all jammed by electronic interference by the American aircraft strike group sent by the Pentagon to escort her."
On the flight, Pelosi's aircraft took an unusually circuitous route by heading southeast towards the Indonesian part of Borneo, then turning north to fly along the eastern part of the Philippines.
He Yuan Ming, an independent airpower analyst, said it was not surprising that the Chinese vessels did not detect the flight.
"Even if the Type 055 (destroyer's) radar is said to be 500km (310 miles), its effective range in the real world would be much less," He said.
"Couple this with the vast operating area as well as the Type 055's relative newness both in terms of its hardware (capabilities) and software (crew), there should be little surprise that the PLA (naval) cruiser could not locate (Pelosi's plane)."
Pelosi's trip was followed by a series of unprecedented PLA war games encircling Taiwan.
On the second day of the exercises, the US sent at least seven reconnaissance and early warning aircraft to waters near Taiwan, according to the Beijing-based South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative.
The deployment included a RC-135V and RC-135S for missile surveillance, three P-8A maritime anti-submarine planes, three E-3G spy jets and one U-2S high-altitude monitor plane, supported by six KC-135 refueling aircraft.
Andrei Chang, editor-in-chief of Canada-based Kanwa Asian Defence, said that with its technology it was very likely that the American navy realised that the PLA had deployed submarines to waters off Taiwan, despite silence on both sides over the involvement of the vessels in the war games.
The first source said electronic warfare between the PLA and US military went back to the 1995-96 Taiwan Strait crisis when American forces jammed almost all the PLA's military radar systems during its missile tests.
"That's the key reason that prompted China to develop its own BeiDou Satellite Navigation System," the source said, adding that both sides were keen to size up the other's strength in the area.
"Both China and the US wanted to examine each other's electronic warfare capabilities this time. The PLA is especially keen to make sure its technology is strong enough to cope with a possible Taiwan contingency."
PLA eyes in the sky and at sea sought to track the aircraft carrying the US House speaker.
www.scmp.com
The problem with non US/western nation folks who think they are learned in military warfare never ever consider the importance and capability of US EW/Cyber warfare in a war against a big military nation under high-tech conditions. They don't understand so they dumb it down to hardware vs hardware and kinematics or how big a radar is almost never including the most important part of warfare... superior battle space picture.
That fact that the US denied the chicoms the ability to track a non-stealthy aircraft shows the US is in a whole other level in warfare. US denied chicoms most powerful warship with a powerful antenna the ability to track Pelosi's plane knowing full well the likely flight path.
Chicoms have no clue what is waiting for them if and when they decide to attack Taiwan and face off against US military.
